By Baron Ike
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola has warned electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos) in the country to desist from blackmailing the Federal Government over outstanding debts allegedly owed them by its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA).
Fashola told them that Government would not succumb to cheap blackmail and would only pay such debts after they had been verified.
The minister however advised the DisCos to pursue the debt issue in their capacities as Distribution Companies and not under the aegis of any association, insisting that although the Constitution guaranteed freedom of association, the privatisation exercise that led to the transfer of the Distribution assets of power was not held between the Federal Government and any association but 11 individual companies.
Fashola, who spoke at the opening session of the 10th Monthly Meeting with Power Sector Operators in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said he was disappointed that the companies had placed advertorials under the aegis of the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distribution Companies. He said in the advertorial, they failed to tell Nigerians the whole truth about the debts noting that the DisCos had so far failed to provide details of such debts for verification.
Describing the advertorials tagged, “MDA debts not yet paid” with other sidelines such as “MDA pay your debts so that we can serve Nigerians better”, as a blackmail against the Federal Government, Fashola said, “Let me say without any equivocation that government will not succumb to this blackmail, at least not the Federal Government of Nigeria.”
He recalled his promise at the assumption of duties that government would pay all duly verified debts, expressing displeasure that the DisCos failed to tell Nigerians in their advert of various meetings seeking solution to the debt problem and that at the last monthly meeting with them in Sokoto an online platform was provided by government to enable them submit the details of the debts with ease to which none of the DisCos had complied by the agreed deadline.
He therefore declared: “I think that Advert should have told the Nigerian public that at our meeting in Sokoto, we provided an online platform where we asked all the DisCos to submit details of their debts to that platform so that we can verify it. I think that advert should have told Nigerians how many DisCos have complied with that instruction. That advert should also have told Nigerians how much was owed and to which DisCos.
“It is important to remind Nigerians that the privatisation exercise did not vest the DisCos in an association instead it was vested in 11 individual companies.
“So while I respect the rights of association; indeed our Constitution allows freedom of association. But the Nigeria Government will not pay its debts estimated to be about N100 billion under the aegis of an association. That is not how to resolve debts. Every DisCo knows how much power it supplied. Debts are not calculated by estimates. It is either N100 billion or less than N100 billion but not an estimate.”
Also faulting the DisCos on the grounds that the advertorials contained no information as to how many of them had supplied details of their audited account for the last three years, Fashola said the information would be more meaningful for Nigerians to know how many DisCos were complying with the regulations set by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
His words: “That advert should also have told the Nigerian Public how many DisCos have gone to court to frustrate the attempt by NERC to hold them to their contracts so that they can pay the GenCos who have been sacrificing, the Gas producers, who have not received any money but have continued to act patriotically.”
He thundered that the responsibility for probity and accountability did not lie only with those serving in the public sector of government, adding that, “It lies with those who work in the private sector as well, it lies with every Nigerian. If the DisCos want payment, we will pay but you have to prove that the debt is owed and you have to prove the quantum.”
Fashola threatened that he would respond on behalf of government to provide the other side of the information, any time the DisCos go to the public without giving them the full information, advising those of them who were unable to handle the job to seek strategic partners or take loans. “Let them do whatever they think is appropriate within the framework of their contract in order to get on with this job,” he said.
Fashola media adviser, Hakeem Bello said in a communiqué after the meeting, the operators commended the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC) for completing the Ikot Ekpene Switching Station, along with connecting lines to Calabar, Ikot Abasi and Ugwuaji which, they noted, increased the capacity of the national grid and linked the North and the South more reliably.
“They also agreed on the importance of including local communities in the commissioning, inaugurating and handing over of power assets, saying it would encourage community ownership of the projects and ensure that local communities were given access to electricity when transmission projects were completed,” he said.